Public Health Jurisdiction Cardiac Rehabilitation Projects 

Four health departments were selected to implement evidence-based strategies to support policies, systems, and services that increase access to and utilization of cardiac rehabilitation through the Million Hearts® Advancing Cardiac Rehabilitation Project:

• • Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
    Develop and disseminate educational materials for inpatients recovering from cardiac surgery. Materials will communicate the benefits of CR participation for recovery from surgery and long-term cardiovascular health, as well as offer guidance on sternal precautions related to mobility and wound care.

• • Minnesota Department of Health
    Engage up to four rural CR programs in structured data-driven projects to develop CR Hospital Scorecards and Hub-and-Spoke referral maps, identify rural specific insights into CR utilization by analyzing the demographics of CR-eligible patients in rural hospital market areas, and investigate policy and workforce factors influencing CR participation through an analysis of Minnesota’s Earned safe and sick time law.

• • Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
    Bridge to Cardiac Rehab (B2CR): Engage three CR facilities to focus on CR participation among patients discharged with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Patients will be enrolled in home-based CR programming during the 6-week mandatory waiting period required before transitioning them to a center-based or hybrid program. This project expands Montana’s 2025 Advancing Cardiac Rehabilitation efforts.

• • New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
    Enhancing Cardiac Rehabilitation in NYC (ECRNYC): Partner with twenty-five healthcare and community-based organizations to expand CR awareness and increase referrals across NYC by delivering one-to-one education and practice facilitation. Content provided will strengthen CR knowledge, referral processes, and care coordination. This project expands New York State’s 2025 Advancing Cardiac Rehabilitation efforts.

If you have questions about the projects listed above, please contact MHPartners@chronicdisease.org.